Burgundy wines back to pre-recession prices

Published: 18 February, 2011

Burgundy wines are back to pre-recession prices, according to Bordeaux Index.

Burgundy wines are back to pre-recession prices, according to Bordeaux Index.

The best known Burgundy producer - Domaine de la Romanee Conti - saw prices for its 2005 vintage plunge by up to 50% as the global financial crisis hit. But two years later it is enjoying a rise in demand for both drinking and investing, says Bordeaux Index managing director Gary Boom. Indexed prices of DRC are now back to the levels they were pre-2008.

Almost half the DRC wines Bordeaux Index have sold in the last four months have been to Asia. The lesser vintages have proved most popular, including 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2006.

Boom tipped French desert wine producer Chateau D'Yquem as best value. "We recently sold 600 bottles and 1200 half bottles in a single trade to a canny buyer in China for consumption and to be given as gifts," he said.

Demand for fifth grwoth status Chateau Lynch-Bages has shot up 20% in just five weeks, Bordeaux Index sold 2.904 bottles of the 2008 vintage this month.

Boom also said clients were increasingly looking for value wines given the record high prices of first growths. "This chasm has encouraged clients worldwide to start buying these names as they seek out more value, and demand is strong. A recent Pichon Lalande 2006 offer we mailed out showing 50 cases (12 bottles per case), at £850 per case sold out within an hour and this wine is now selling at £950 per case."

He added that the search for value was not confined solely to Bordeaux. "It's not just the so-called 'super seconds' that are proving popular. Lower ranked, fifth growth chateaux including Pontet Canet and Lynch Bages that have recorded noticeable improvements in quality in recent years and are now being targeted by savvy drinkers."